ySTANBUL (CyHAN)- The urgent expropriation of 77 parcels of land in
eight different districts of ystanbul spanning the Northern Marmara
Highway and third ystanbul bridge projects was recently ordered by the
Highways General Directorate (HGM), according to a report in the
HE-rriyet daily.

The exact locations of the land to be expropriated, published in
the Official Gazette, include a list of properties in ystanbul's
BaE-akE-ehir, ArnavutkE[micro]y, Saryyer, Beykoz, EcekmekE[micro]y,
Sultanbeyli, E[pounds sterling]mraniye and Sancaktepe districts.

The Northern Marmaray Highway project, a major route that includes
the controversial third Bosporus Bridge, seeks to link the provinces of
Tekirday- and Adapazary, a distance of roughly 414 kilometers.
EcekmekE[micro]y, Sultanbeyli, E[pounds sterling]mraniye and Sancaktepe,
all located on the Anatolian side of ystanbul, account for 57 of the
properties that will be expropriated, while 15 properties are in Beykoz,
on the inner Anatolian side, facing the bridge. The remaining five
locations are found in the Saryyer, ArnavutkE[micro]y and BaE-akE-ehir
districts, all located on ystanbul's European side. Saryyer
coincides with the western end of the third Bosporus bridge.

The third bridge project has repeatedly popped up in the media
since it was announced in 2013. After the government claimed that the
bridge would be named after Sultan Yavuz Selim, Turkey's Alevis --
who comprise around 15 percent of the population -- were infuriated; the
sultan, also known as Selim the Grim, was infamous for slaughtering
upwards of 40,000 Alevis during his reign. President Recep Tayyip
Erdoy-an, during his tenure as ystanbul's mayor in the 1990s, once
said that a third bridge over the Bosporus would spell
"murder" for the city, however, he has since come out in full
support of the ambitious project.

Environmentalists have argued that the construction of the bridge
will result in intense deforestation and will exacerbate, rather than
alleviate, ystanbul's traffic crisis. The neighborhoods located
immediately on either side of the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge, the second
built over the Bosporus, swelled following the bridge's completion
in the late 1980s, and critics fear that the third bridge will create a
similar situation, resulting in an explosion in development and
increased traffic. Workers on the bridge have gone on strike in the last
year to demand unpaid wages; they started their strike after claiming
that they had not been paid for two months of work. In addition, a
tragedy occurred in April when three workers fell to their deaths after
scaffolding on a viaduct collapsed during the construction.

The Ministry of Transportation, Maritime Affairs and Communications
announced late last year that they intend to open the third bridge on
Oct. 29, 2015, to coincide with the 86th anniversary of the Turkish
Republic.